MYSURU: To ensure that government facilities reach all nomadic tribal communities in the state, the Karnataka Nomadic and Semi Nomadic Development Corporation has for the first time taken up a survey of the communities.
Corporation Chairman K Ravindra Shetty shared details of the survey and welfare programmes. He was interacting with the media at Jaladarshini on Friday after meeting nomadic tribes living in Kuppya village of T Narasipura constituency and Shanubhoganahalli village of Hunsur Assembly constituency.
Shetty said there are 47 nomadic tribes, including Bairagi, Bharadi, Bajigar, Dhombari and Golla, in the state. “According to official statistics, there are around 29 lakh nomads in the state. But community leaders say their population is around 75 lakh with Gollas alone constituting 35 lakh. The population is 9,645 in eight Assembly constituencies of Mysuru district,” he said.
Since there are no proper statistics available about the community population, he has written letters to Deputy Commissioners of all districts to conduct surveys of nomadic tribes through their PDOs and community leaders in their respective districts and submit reports within six months.
Shetty said last year, the corporation received Rs 12.29 crore from the government, of which Rs 2.2 crore has not been used. The government also released Rs 6 crore earlier and another Rs 10 crore recently.